48.
Master of the Universe, You informed us, through Your holy Sages, of blessed memory, that a person has to strengthen himself very, very much in the service of God and always be happy, without being afraid at all. One mustn’t let one’s mind fill from happiness in any form. For as soon as a Jew wants to enter the service of God, it immediately becomes a great sin to feel sad, Heaven forbid. Sadness is from the Other Side and the Holy One hates it! You have to know that in this world, you must pass over a very, very narrow bridge and the main thing is not to become frightened at all. The tzaddikim encouraged us with their words many times not to despair under any circumstances. Rather, we have to start from anew each time in the service of God. Therefore, please have mercy upon us and merit us to put into practice all their words. Let s know and behave with perfect faith that You desire to bring us close, not to push us away, Heaven forbid. All the experiences that suffer and which seem to distance us from You, are really only the means of bringing us closer. So, may we start again in the service of God on every occasion without our minds falling and becoming weakened by whatever occurs to us. Either way that’s true. If a person hasn’t yet started to make an effort in the service of God, then he certainly has to strengthen himself and decide to at least start from now. If not now, then when? One has to believe that one will certainly receive assistance from Heaven to serve God for someone who wants to purify himself, from Heaven they help him. On the other hand, if a person knows that he has already made efforts in the service of God and he is still very far away and he still hasn’t entered into the realm of holiness, then he certainly mustn’t imagine that he is being distanced from Above, Heaven forbid, as if the Holy One does not desire him, his Torah and mitzvot.
Therefore, let us know and believe that everything is for the sake of bringing us close, especially after tzaddikim have already revealed to us that they also experienced feelings of being distanced. Nevertheless they didn’t weaken in serving God but rather strengthened their hearts to continue and progress. So, even more so, we should believe in the words of these tzaddikim and put our trust in them. Let us start from now to serve God while being truly humble. Specifically through this, merit us to always be happy and vitalize ourselves with every small movement that we manage to cut ourselves off from the materialism of this world even if it is only a small point, for this makes a very big impression in the worlds above. Let us not be upset al all by any experience of failure. On the contrary, when the Evil One attacks us and strives to make us fall, Heaven forbid, let us remember that we may be very close, and only a moment away from entering the gateways of holiness. All the efforts we have made however small, to sever ourselves from materialism and physical cravings, should join together to help us overcome the Evil One. And by finding in ourselves good points, we should merit to strengthen and gladden ourselves so that we never fall away from our spiritual level until we return to the Holy One and all our sins become turned into meritorious deeds.
Amen.
49.
In relation to the greatness of G-d and His immense exaltedness, any slight movement or glance that is improper and demeans the honour of G-d, would be appropriate to bring upon a person whatever he deserves, Heaven forbid. However, the Holy One is full of mercy and He is full of compassion over all the world. (i.e. an aspect of "he rules the world with loving-kindness and has compassion for His creatures.") He wants the existence of the world very much. Therefore a person has to encourage himself in the service of G-d in whatever way he can even though he is like the way he is. He should depend on the bountiful and unlimited mercy of G-d, for certainly G-d won't desert him despite his having transgressed whatever he transgressed. The past doesn't exist; the main thing is from now on not to transgress again – he should be passive and at least refrain from blemishing both in deed and thought. And whatever happens to him, automatically he shouldn't think about it or consider it at all. Know, the main form of perfect repentance is when a person passes through those places and experiences in which he was previously but now turns away from them and doesn't repeat those deeds and thoughts through which he blemished. This is the essence of perfect repentance. It is a great virtue when a person still has the evil urge for then he can serve G-d specifically with the evil urge, overcoming from within the heat of his evil inclination and using it in some form of service of G-d. That's to say, he stops and holds back this heat at the time of physical desires and transfers it to prayer and to the service of G-d, praying with warmth and enthusiasm in the heart.
(Editor's note: See Lekutei Etzot, Hitchazkoot, 37: It says there that without the evil urge a Jew's service of G-d is not considered as anything. Because of this the Holy One lets the Evil Urge overcome a person so much even though this brings him to what it brings him. Even so it is all worthwhile to G-d because of the one good movement in overcoming the Evil Urge when it attacks him and he runs away from it. This is very precious to G-d, more than if he had served Him for a thousand years without the Evil Urge etc. See inside.)
50.
A person's thoughts are entirely under his control; he can turn them in whatever direction he wants. It is totally impossible to have two thoughts at the same time. Even if at times one's thoughts fly away and wander into improper things, it is still within one's power to redirect them, even against their will, onto the true path to think worthy thoughts. This is just like a horse which turns off the road and tries to go in the wrong direction. The rider controls the horse with the reigns and forces it to go in the right direction. Similarly, a person can catch his thoughts and force them back onto the right path.